mediate sale were made, and by means of this broker's certificate, a commission of appraisement and sale is obtained. Then the captor's agents proceed with alacrity to sell, and as no attention is paid to the circumstance of the goods being at an out of the way port, instead of being at the proper market for which they were intended and prepared, it will be evident that they do not frequently sell for one-fourth of their cost; and never otherwise than at a great loss instead of a profit, to which every trader naturally looks. The miserable proceeds are then, after remaining some time in the hands of the captor's agent brought into court, and upon restitution being decreed, the neutral claimant may receive them upon a further payment of poundage to the registrar; and fortunate is the neutral trader, if after payment of the heavy law expences, any proceeds remain to be remitted abroad. -I have now, Mr. Cobbett, explained how the neutral trader loses, but you would not comprehend how the captors make their profits, if I were not to add, that besides being owners of privateers, they are lightermen, wharfingers, warehouse-keepers, brokers, agents, &c. &c. And you will now be enabled to guess that the goods on being landed, housed, and sold pay, and are wasted so unmercifully, that the capters on having their expences paid, are no great losers.-The board of trade many months ago made some investigation into these nefarious practices, and, I doubt not, that as redress is long a coming, it will be the more effectual. If you should deem this subject worth an introduction into the Register, it will lead to the exposure of many more iniquitous practices attending the privateering system; and I remain, Sir, &c.-R. EXPATRIATION. SIR;I am somewhat at a loss to refer to that part of my letter to you, in which it seems, from your observation (p. 646), I have relinquished my "former construction of the Law of England."-There is one pas sage in my 2d. letter (the last sentence p. 609) which possibly may haveinduced your animadversion: if this be so, it is necessary that I undeceive you, and more clearly explain myself. In that passage, I referred merely to the weakness of Candidus's remark resting on no better authority than "his mere assertion," and to shew the slender thread on which that observation hung, I meant to convey, which perhaps my expression did not sufficiently do, that my assertion was equally good, and carried as much weight, though. I should adopt a contrary 46 system, not thereby meaning to convey the idea, that capacity" of expatriation was not laid down, but that if I chose to assert this, without better authority than an ipsf dixit, my remark, opposed to his, was oe equal weight. This, and no more, did I intend; and I trust I shall be acquitted of sophistry in this explanation, especially when it is recollected, that my following remarks (612) in support of my construction of the Law of England, contain further authorities, viz. Bracton, Fleta, and Stamford, which, al hough you object to Vattel on the law of nations, and Wicquefort's book on Ambassadors, I presume you cannot dissent from. They convey to us what was the common law, and with respect to my ideas upon the statute law they remain as they were. I certainly do, Mr. Cobbett, insist upon my former construction of the Law of Engiand, and as to the doctrines of Vattel and Wicquefort as my ideas perfectly coincide with them, I deemed it more proper to refer to them than adopt their opinions as part of my argument. Candidus's charge o fadopting, 66 revolutionary principles," would have been well founded, if I had in conformity to the doctrine of the French Emperor overturned Vattel's exposition of the Law of Nations, which has been long acted upon, and I do not see why I should attempt to dispute Vattel's authority, because it may suit his purpose to dispute it, or the propriety of that which Vattel lays down to be the Law of Nations. Vattel does not give us a mere dictum, but he furnishes us with what I deem to be solid argument. Your argument-but which however you have not favoured me with, opposing his, I should wish to have considered; the only reason I did not furnish you with Vattel's arguments, was an apprehension of occupying a greater space in your Register than strictly allowable, and in consequence I referred you to the passages on which I relied. I rest under a serious charge of sophistry, and am stigmatized with the adoption of the. ridicule: nothing, be assured, was further from my thoughts; and if my language does convey those ideas to you, it has arisen currente calamo. Thou shalt "do no murder,' I hold to be applicable as well to Nations as to Individuals; one cannot, but to avoid ambiguity, let me comment as I proceed; and observe, that I intend this unfortunate word,!! as used in common parlance, commit murder without being stigmatized, with as much criminality as the other; although Nations. are not amenable to human punishment as individuals are: but they are liable to severe censure beyond the power of mortals; we have but to look at the visitations with which nearly the whole Continent of Europe has been afflicted for their misdeeds. A Nation is bound to protect helpless infancy, and not authorised to suffer an infant to perish with hunger or cold, or from want of care. It is compelled, as you observe, to "nurse and defend him," until he is capable of defending himself; but although I admit these things. I see not that deficiency of Justice, "when he is grown up to mankind," should he carry his talents and strength elsewhere. The talents of man are bestowed upon him for his own benefit, and he may use them as to him they prove most profitable, but it should be recollected that the man of talents will not forget "gratitude" as the splendid orb illuminating those talents, which his Creator has bestowed upon him, and the Country which "reared him up to manhood." Gratitude will for ever remain, although I contend allegiance may pass away. I have it seems been unfortunate in my simile, though you will hardly allow that term to my companion; so much so have I been that I am apprehensive if I travel one step higher my attempt at clucidation may be obortive. A father of a family has more than once been compared to the head of a Government, and you will perhaps agree with me that there is more resemblance between the Nation and the private family, than the dependant in a family to whom in my former letter I alluded. "We natural ther comparisons and rest my arguments and observations here, together with the authorities of our common lawyers quoted hereto-- fore by me, from which it has not been my intention to depart, howsoever inexpressive and ambiguous I may have been, and with whatsoever injustice I may have communicated their sentiments, and superadded mine, satisfied with that little wit I possess, be it superficial or solid.-The Proclamation (upon which I addressed a letter to you on the 20th instant), so far as it extends is proper as I have before said; but it does not extend in my estimation as it seems to you to all British subjects. The word "others" bears relation to "such letters of naturalization," which again refers to the beginning of the sentence making mention of "mariners and seafaring men," to whom letters have been granted and to men employed on board of a ship whether as mariners and seafaring men or otherwise, and not to merchants, manufacturers, or fund-holders, or to his Majesty's subjects in general. I do think, Mr. Cobbett, that it would be well for this highly favoured country, if an act of parliament were passed, prohibiting lawyers from drawing up acts of parliament on pain of death, and to prevent them from expounding laws. From the extreme caution of lawyers arises all the confusion in our courts of law and the doubts upon acts of parliament; and very frequently constructions are put upon statute laws, which never entered into the imagination of the legisla ture.-Nations, Mr.Cobbett, have not, de jare or de facto, the power of bargaining with their infant subjects, or to become infanticides. In the one case they would act with uncontr sulable injustice, in the other with turpitude Nations are bound to extend acts of humanity and not to look to the quid pro quo; to say I have nurtured you, and I therefore claim perpetual subjection from you. It might as well be said that the common offices of humanity due to indigent foreigners lay claim to their future services in perpetuity--the humane tendency of our laws is such that they do not suffer any person of whatever country he may be to perish through want; but yet we do not, therefore, enlist such perpetually under our banners. Acts of humanity are twice blessed; first in the adoption, and secondly in the disinterested motive. This virtue I deem the divine attribute humanized.--You know well, Mr. Cobbett, that it has been beretofore not unusual for one of two partners, British subjects, to reside in America, an the other here. The man who rebest leave fur-sided in America accepted letters of natu ly owe to those who gave us existence," says Blackstone, Vol. I. Chap. 16, page 453, subjection and obedience during our minority and honour and reverence ever after;" but I do not find that this" subjection and obedience" continue after minority has ceased. When we arrive at manhood there is an end of subjection; and I consider as I have heretofore done, that as between the nation and the individual it is similar, and that nothing remains but the extension of "gratitude". Indeed, Blackstone, page 369, says, "Natural allegiance is therefore a debt of gratitude which cannot be forfited;" this I have contended too and still maintain. I have isted upon the debt of gratitude remaining, but not allegiance when a man by cession of minority becomes capable of electing his place of residence and adopting a new country if he thinks fit. I am apprehensive, that, should I adduce various other comparisons, the observations of Crousaz, in his Treatise on the Art of Thinking, Vol. I. part 1. sec. 2 page 387, would fit me, viz: "that a great quantity of comparisons is frequently a sign of a superficial wit 66 ralization, and made America his domicil. It has been not unusual for courts of law, common as well as civil, to hold, that although such a man is a natural born subject, yet having become domiciliated in America, Ameri ca is his country.-Now let us see the consequence; the partner in America under cover of this construction ships to France, and, perhaps, touches here for orders, as it is termed; should such ship be brought in by our cruizers, and is libelled in the admiralty, she is released, because, although the partner in America is a natural boru subject of Great Britain, yet as he is domicilated" there he is held to be a neutral, and the ship and cargo also neutral, notwithstanding, that the resident partner here is a Brifish subject, and may participate in the profits of the adventure. We pay here a very liberal credit to a man's oath, so much so, that if the British subject here swears he has no concern in the ship and cargo, that alone would tend to acquit the ship. A door is, however, open to pejury, and the facility with which this species of evidence, if evidence it can be called, has been received by no means tends to close the aperture. have been the mischievous effects of partial expatriation. I say partial, because should the resident partner in America chuse to return here and altogether quit his domicil abroad, he is received here again as a British subject. I think, therefore, that something more explicit and definite is requested than the language of the proclamation heretofore noticed by me. And now, Mr. Cobbett, for a short time farewell. Should you or your correspondents Candidus and R. R, incline to remark upon this and my former letters, you and they may depend upon a proper attention, on my part, as soon after the approaching" saturnalia" as possible. -S. V.-Oct. 28, 1807. Such PUBLIC PAPERS. GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA.- ·Offi cial Note delivered by the British Plenipotentiaries to the American Commissioners, dated December 31, 1806. The undersigned Henry Richard Vassall, Lord Holland, and William, Lord Auckland, Plenipotentiaries of his Britannic Majesty, have the honour to inform James Monroe and William Pinkney, Commissioners Extraordinary and Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America, that they are now ready to proceed to the signature of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, on the articles of which they have mutually agreed But at the same time they have it in command from his Majesty, to call the at tention of the Commissioners of the United States, to some extraordinary proceedings which have lately taken place on the Continent of Europe, and to communicate to them officially the sentiments of his Majesty's government thereupon.-The proceedings alluded to are certain declarations and orders of the French government, issued at Berlin, on the 21st of November last.--In those orders the French government seeks to justify or palliate its own unjust pretensions, by imputing to Great Britain principles which she never professed, and practices which never existed. His Majesty is accused of a systematic and general disregard of the law of nations, recognized by civilized states, and more particularly of an unwarrantable extension of the right of blockade; whereas his Majesty may confidently appeal to the world, on his uniform respect for neutral rights, aud his general and scrupulous adherence to the law of nations, without condescending to contrast his conduct in these particulars, with that of his enemy; and with regard to the only specific charge, it is notorious, that he has never declared any ports to be in a state of blockade, without allotting to that object a force sufficient to make the entrance into them manifestly dangerous. By such allegations, unfounded as they are, the enemy attempts to justify his pretensions of confiscating, as lawful prize, all produce of English industry or manufacture, though it be the property of neutrals; of excluding from his harbours every neutral vessel which has touched at any port of his Majesty's dominions, though employed in an innocent commerce: and of declaring Great Britain to be in a state of blockade, though his own ports and arsenals are actually blockaded, and he is unable to station any naval force whatever before any port of the United Kingdom.-Such principles are in themselves extravagant, and repugnant to the law of nations; and the pretensions founded on them, though professedly directed solely against Great Britain, tend to alter the practice of war among civilised nations, and utterly to subvert the rights and independence of neutral powers. The undersigned cannot, therefore, believe, that the enemy will ever seriously attempt to enforce such a system. If he should, they are confident that the good sense of the American government will perceive the fatal consequences of such pretensions to neutral commerce, and that its spirit and regard to national honour, will prevent its acquiescence in such palpable violations of its rights, and injurious encroachments on its interests.--If, however, the enemy should carry these threats into execution, and if neutral nations should, contrary to all expectation, acquiesce in such usurpations, his Majesty might probably be compelled, however reluctantly, to retaliate in his just defence, and to issue orders to his cruisers to adopt towards neutrals any hostile system to which those neutrals shall have submitted from his enemies. The commissioners of the United States will therefore feel, that at a moment when his Majesty, and all the neutrál nations are threatened with such an extension of the belligerent pretensions of his enemies, he cannot enter into the stipulations of the present treaty without an explanation from the United States of their intentions, or a reservation on the part of his Majesty in the case above-mentioned, if it should ever occur.— The undersigned, considering that the dis tance of the American government, renders any immediate explanation on the subject impossible, and animated by a desire of forwarding the bencficial work in which they are engaged, are authorised by his Majesty to conclude the treaty without delay. They proceed to the signature under the full persuasion that before the treaty shall be returned from America, with the ratification of the United States, the enemy will either have formally abandoned, or tacitly relinquished, his unjust pretensions, or that the government of the United States, by its conduct or assurances, will have given security to his Majesty, that it will not submit to such innovations in the established system of maritime law; and the undersigned have presented this note from an anxious wish, that it should be clearly understood on both sides, that without such abandonment of his pretensions, on the part of the enemy, or such assurances or such conduct on the part of the United States, his Majesty will not consider himself bound by the present signature of his commissioners to ratify the treaty, or precluded from adopting such measures as may seem necessary for counteracting the designs of his enemy whenever they shall occur, and be of such an extraordinary nature as to require extraordinary remedies -The undersigned cannot conclude, without expressing their satisfaction at the prospect of accomplishing an object so important to the interests and friendly connection of both nations, and their just sense of the conciliatory disposition manifested by the commissioners of the United States, during the whole course of the negociation. alfi (Signed) VASSAL HOLLAND, RUSSIA AND TURKEY.-Treaty of Armistice between Russia and the Ottoman Porte; August 24, 1807. Art. 1. From the date of the signature of the treaty, all hostilities shall cease between the two belligerent powers.2. As the Sublime Porte and Russia equally wish, with the most amicable intention, the establish- ment of peace and harmony, the high contracting parties will appoint, after the signature of the present armistice, plenipotentiaries to negociate and conclude a peace as soon as possible, to meet in the most convenient situation for both. If in the course of the negociation for a definitive peace, difficulties should unfortunately arise, so as to obstruct a definitive arrangement, hostilities shall not re-commence before next spring, that is to say, before the 21st of March, 1808, new stile of the christian æra.- -3. As soon as the present armistice is signed, the Russian troops shall begin to evacuate Wallachia and Moldavia, and all the provinces, fortresses, and other territory which they have occupied during the war; and to retire within their ancient frontiers, so that the said evacuation shall be completed in the space of thirty-five days from the date of the signature of the present armistice.→ The Russian troops shall leave, in the territory and fortresses which they shall evacuate all the effects, cannon, and ammunition, which they found on taking possession of them. The Sublime Porte shall appoint commissaries to receive the aforesaid fortresses from Russian officers appointed for the aforesaid purpose. The Ottoman troops shall, in like manner, retire from Moldavia and Wallachia, and repass the Danube. They will only leave in the fortresses of Ismail, Brailow, and Giurgion, garrisons sufficient to keep them. The Russian troops shall correspond with the Ottomans, so that the two armies shall begin to retire at the same time from Wallachia and Moldavia. The two contracting parties shall in no way meddle with the administration of the two principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia till the arrival of the plenipotentiaries charged with the office of negociating for a definitive peace. Till peace is concluded, the Otto- : man troops shall not enter any of the fortresses evacuated by the Russians. The inhabitants alone shall be at liberty to enter them.-4. Conformably to the preceding article, the island of Tenedos, as well as every other place in the Archipelago, which, before the intelligence of the armistice shall have arrived, shall be occupied by the Russian troops, shall be evacuated. The Rus sian troops which are stationed before Tenedos, or any other place in the Archipelago, shall return to their ports, in order that the Dardanelles shall be at once open and free. If the Russian ships in proceeding to their ports shall be obliged to stop at any port in the Archipelago, in consequence of tempestuous weather, or any other unavoidable accident, the Turkish cfficers shall not op pose any obstacle, but on the contrary, shall afford them the necessary aid. All the ships of war, or other Ottoman vessels, which, during the war shall have fallen into the hands of the Russians, shall be restored, with their crews, as well as the Russian vessels which shall have fallen into the hands of the Ottomans. The Russian ships in proceeding to their ports shall not take on board any subject of the Sublime Porte.5. All the vessels of the Russian flotilla stationed at the mouth of the Sunne or elsewhere, shall go out and proceed to their ports, in order that the Ottoman vessels may go out and come in with perfect safety. The Sublime Porte will give orders that the Russian vessels proceeding to their ports shall be respected, and that they shall be permitted to enter into any Ottoman port in case they shall be obliged to do so by tempestuous weather or any other inevitable accident 6. All the prisoners of war and other slaves of both sexes, of whatever quality or rank, shall be immediately liberated and restored on both sides, without any ransom, with the exception, however, of mussulmen who shall have voluntarily embraced the christian religion in the Russian empire, and the christian subjects of Russia who shall have voluntarily embraced the mahometan religion in the Ottoman empire. Immediately after the conclusion of the present armistice, all the commanders, officers and inhabitants of the fortresses of Turkey, who are at present in Russia, shall be restored and sent to Turkey, with all their property and baggage.——7. The present treaty of armistice, written in Turkish and in French, has been signed by the two plenipotentiaries, and by the Adju tant Commandant Guilleminot, and has been exchanged, in order that it may be ratified by the Grand Vizier, and by his excellency the General in Chief Michelson.The two plenipotentiaries shall take care that the said ratifications shall be exchanged within one week, or sooner, if possible.Done and decreed at the castle of Slobosia, near Giurgion, the 20th of the month of Dgemaziul-Ahir, the year of the Hegira. 1222, and the 12th of August (old style), or the 24th of August, 1807, (new style) of FOREIGN OFFICIAL PAPER. RUSSIA.- -Proclamation issued by the Emperor of Russia, on the conclusion of Peace with France. Given at St. Petersburgh, August 9, 1807. We, Alexander the First. by God's grace, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias.The war between Russia and France, through the powerful assistance of the Most High, and the distinguished valour of our troops, has ended. Peace is happily restored.—In the course of this war, Russia has experienced the magnitude of her resources in the love aud devotion of her sons, and which she may reckon upon finding on all occasions.The troops in general have exhibited an unexampled valour, the firmest intrepidity, and heroic action; wherever they were called by the voice of honour, the sense of danger disappeared: their glorious deeds will rmain beyond the power of oblivion in the annals of national honour, and a grateful country will consider them as standing examples for posterity.-The nobles of the civil class, treading in the footsteps of their predecessors, have not only distinguished themselves by the sacrifices they have made of their property, but also by their perfect readiness to hazard their lives for the honour of their country.-The merchants, and all the other classes, neither sparing of their endeavours nor their property, have cheer fully borne the burden of the war, and have shewn themselves ready to make any sacrifice whatever. With such a general and intimate union of valour and patriotism, 'it has pleased the Most High, defendmg and strengthening our armies in the severest conflicts, finally to reward their intrepidity by putting a happy period to a sanguinary war, and presenting us with a propitions peace, by a treaty, between France and Russia, which was concluded and ratified on the 27th of June, in our presence, at Tilsit. -According to the basis of this treaty, we have rejected all the plans for the enlarge: ment of our frontiers at the expense of our.. allies, as inconsistent with justice and Russian dignity.-Not wishing to extend our spacious empire, we only made use of our arms to restore the violated tranquillity of the Continent, and to avert the danger which threatened our own, and the states that were in alliance with us.-Through the establishment of the present peace, Russia's ancient limits are not only secured in their |